Five Stages
by Classic Criminal Kate
Summary: There are five stages of dying. He has five months to live. We can only live with dignity, we can't die with it. Rufus ShinRa & Turks centered. Rated for theme and character death.
1. Prelude

'Oh,' He said airily, with a casual flick of blonde hair, 'by the way, I happen to be dying.'

Spoken like a bureaucrat, not a human being. Dying was just another event on the addenda. His voice lingering on the tone of statistics and data. Damage Control.

The news had shocked the four. A grim reminder of both his and their mortality. Foreknowledge that everything dies. a prediction made at the very beginning that the men and women of the Investigations Division of the Department of General Affairs, affectionately named the Turks, of ShinRa Electric Power Company, or what was left of it would one day meet their end.

Now it was his turn. He had been diagnosed with the Stigma. His body was trying to fight off the alien matter, and it was killing him.

And Rufus ShinRa was dying.

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_**A/N;;** Prelude. Partially inspired by 'Time Enough.' It's in my faves. Go find it. And partially inspired by a House M.D. and the song 'What Sara Said' by Death Cab for Cutie. A will upload a new chapter every day, one a day, for the next five days. There are six stories total, each focusing on one specific character, and the Five Stages. _

_1. Denial_

_2. Anger_

_3. Bargaining_

_4. Depression_

_5. Acceptance_

_Tomorrow is Denial. Yay._


	2. 1: Denial

**A/N;;** Thanks so much for the reviews! I was a little stunned. It took my other stories five months to get one review. It took Five Stages five HOURS to get THREE! ^^ Much love to all who faved and reviewed.

Anyway. Here's the next chapter. As promised.

**Oh, and I don't own anything. As much as I wish I did. **

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**1. Denial**

_This was not happening._ No, it could not be possible. A lie, surely. A misdiagnosis.

There was no denying the confirming tests. Positive.

Five months. He had five months left to live. Or so the doctors had predicted. Five months. It wasn't enough time.

_There's never enough time. _

But Rufus ShinRa couldn't be dying.

Elena refused to accept that. As she sat in her closet, back to the wall and knees drawn up to her chest, surrounded by her hanging clothes and shoeboxes and her photo albums from collage, she refused to accept her superior's mortality. Hallow chocolate eyes, once to full of life and enthusiasm stared blankly at the floor through her short, blond and now disheveled hair. She tried to convince herself that Rufus was going to live. That he was going to live a long healthy life…that they all would.

She tried to convince herself that this was not punishment for their actions.

_Everything was going to be fine. Everyone would live. _

No, it won't, argued the rational part of her mind.

After the first week, the shock of the news slowly began to ebb. As the first month drew to a close, and Rufus' condition began to worsen, his body weakening, the seizures starting and the pain shooting, Elena entered the first stage.

She was in Denial.

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Tomorrow is Anger, centering around Rude. =D I've decided that the order in which the characters in 5S are placed follows there senority. EX) Elena is the newbie, so she's the first stage. Rude is one 'rank' above her, so he's stage 2. Etc.

Don't forget to review. It makes me want to write more literatly. =]


	3. 2: Anger

**Oh Em Gee. Thanks so much for the reviews! Yous guys are a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. okay. That was bad. But seriously, thanks! ^^**

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**2. Anger**

_They had lost control._

ShinRa used to control the world from behind the scenes. The puppeteer pulling the strings. They were feared and respected. People used to listen to them, obey them. Civilians looked to ShinRa for guidance and protection.

In the blink of an eye, it all fell apart.

Everything changed. The company fell, and although he didn't let it show, Rude was angered. They busted their asses keeping the public safe, and when things went sour, the world was a little too quick to jump ship.

But, like a good captain, Rufus ShinRa stayed, doing down with his vessel, sinking into the cold, icy hell.

_So why did he have to die?_

Why him? If anything, he was one of the driving forces that saved a pretty large chunk of the world. So why had he been effected by this rare disease?

They very thought pissed Rude off. Hell, he didn't know why he was so outraged. His friends were mildly concerned for him, but his emotions and mental health shied compared to their failing President.

He had begun to lash out at people. His anger directed towards anyone and everyone, for no real reason. More often than not, he could be found sparring in the gym. He would beat the pulp out of the sack, feeling exhausted by the end. Little did he realize that he had entered the second stage.

Anger.

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_**A/N;;** I've never written Rude. I dunno...it seems kinda...weird. He's so hard to get into character with Anger, because he never says anything! Dude's like a flipping rock! _

_Tomorrow is Bargaining, with Reno. YAAAAYYY!!!_


	4. 3: Bargaining

**Not much to say bout this chapter. Danke, again, for the reviews! I know, the last chapter sucked. Probably because I was never a huge, huge fan of Rude...**

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**3. Bargaining**

Maybe there was some compromise that could be reached. An agreement. A deal. A deal with God to save Rufus ShinRa's immortal soul.

Although, it was an unspoken agreement that they were all going to hell...

Reno had never been a very religious person. He hardly went to church. He never read the Bible. He swore often, and broke most of the Ten Commandments at least twice a day; Anyone in their line of work would.

But the diagnosis had hit home, and Reno began searching for any possible way to save Rufus. He thought that, perhaps if she promised to do or not do specific things, it would buy Rufus more time...

That first day, when he got home, before he went to bed, Reno tore his apartment apart, searching. Finally, after a good hour of rabid scouring, he found his treasure. His mother's Rosary. Something he hadn't looked at or seen since she had died when he was just a boy.

For the first time in twenty-some odd years, Reno prayed.

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_Woah. This is short. Reno. Aw! I can only assume that Christianity exists in the world of FF7. Aeris(ith)'s church looks pretty Christian/Cathlic/W/e to me...._

_Tseng tomorrow!!! Finally. I've been wanting to write him for, like, ever. ^^_


	5. 4: Depression

**This didn't come out as well as I thought it would. Normally, I can write depression. Depression and denial. Danke for the reviews!**

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**4. Depression**

The weather matched his mood.

Depressing, and all around gloomy.

The inside of the pub, The Fleetwood, however, was warm, loud, and strangely comforting. Patrons bustled around him, buying drinks, retelling stories that he had heard a hundred times over. Cigar and cigarette smoke hung heavily in the air. Under the clink of glass and the hum of conversation, Billy Joel's Piano Man played from the old Juke-Box in the corner.

With a sigh, Tseng took a swig of his drink. The door opened and a cold, rainy wind blew in.

He ignored it.

The pressure and stress of Rufus' illness was taking it's toll on everyone. But most of all, on Tseng. Seniority had it's downsides.

The seizures had become more frequent and more violent. The pain had intensified one hundred fold. But Rufus always brushed aside their concern with practiced detachment and continued on with whatever it was he was doing.

Tseng admired him for that. Rufus was handling his own death with a certain grace that Tseng doubted he, himself would ever achieve.

Death was inevitable.

They could all see it in his tired, stormy blue eyes.

Tseng finished off his whiskey, grabbed his overcoat and headed for home. He had things to do. Paperwork and believe it or not, missions. He and the Turks were flying out the following day to conduct and investigation at the Northern Crater. Hoping to find…something. Anything.

His phone calendar beeped, breaking the silence as he drove home, marking the end of the fourth month.

Tseng blinked slowly, feeling all off his energy and drive drain away. He felt tired. And guilty. And depressed.

One more month.

_Almost out of time._

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_A/N;; Almost done!!!! Acceptance is probably going to be really long, and it's gonna kick some serious emotional ass. =D Almost done almost done almost done! I...totally lost my train of thought. =P Um. Oh, I might be a day late on Acceptance. It's going to be long. And deep. _

_I'll put an extra bit of effort in, and I'll get it uploaded by tomorrow if you review! Oh, and I might write an epilouge. _


	6. 5: Acceptance

**5. Acceptance**

It hit her then how fleeting life was. Nothing was ever set in stone. No change was permanent. Decisions needed to be made. One couldn't just mull it around in their minds, thinking of the consequences, playing out the scenarios. Everything they did, every engagement, every plan was just a prayer to good ol' Father Time. All anyone could ever do in life was to hope that they had enough time left to let their agenda come to pass.

This epiphany hit him as he stared at, but not really saw, the ceiling of his room in the Intensive Care Unit of Midgar Royal Hope Teaching Hospital.

Amongst the year old magazines, stiff and uncomfortable chairs, and vending machines, he knew his Turks sat nervously. The television entertained itself absently in the corner, and no one paid it any mind. The air smelled like latex, urine and 409 cleaner; a cold, dry combination.

Mako blue eyes gazed at all the eyes locked onto the ground, to the anxious pacers bracing for those two words that could bring their world crashing down; "I'm sorry," to the constant and quiet stream of doctors and nurses as they made their rounds. Nurses bustled past; pushing trolleys or tending to patients, looking forcibly optimistic. Doctors strolled, a grim of please expression on their warn faces, depending on which type or news they were harboring. Although, everyone was looking a little more relaxed, more bright, and, dare he say it, everything had a new glow.

The rain had washed away the stigma, the death, the sadness. Millions of people were spared. Kadaj and his gang had returned to the planet, and Avalanche were once again given the title of heroes.

Everyone was alright now. Everyone was healed, getting a second chance. Their prayers had been answered.

Everyone's but his.

The Stigma was gone, but the damage remained. It was too late for him. His lungs, his heart, everything was beyond repair.

His eyes left the gray-white ceiling, moving to the glass wall of his room, where he could see Tseng watching him, eyes unreadable. Elena appeared soon, too, handing the older man a cup of steaming coffee. They both looked warn, tired, older.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Went his EKG, bleeping out the rhythmic and weary beating of his dying heart. Every dip of the LCD took him a little further away.

Why him? Maybe it was karma. Did life work like that? Was life just a series of karma points, where one decision or action brought on a good or bad reaction? Did people get what they deserved? On that note, what would be waiting for him, them? Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Nothing? He himself believed in neither Heaven or Hell. The idea of a utopia in another plain of existence was just preposterous. Hell...well, metaphorical Hell, yes. An actual pit of torture in the center of the Earth, not so much.

There was nothing waiting for him. How could there be? Rufus, for a moment, thought that maybe Nothing _was_ a Hell. But no. He would only cease to exist.

His affairs were in order; his Will was written, leaving his broken company to Reeve to do with as he pleased. His property and wealth, or what was left of it, was split up between the Turks, and a large portion of his savings was donated to various charities and to the WRO. There was nothing left for him to do. No final acts. Everything was in place, everything was set.

He had passed his torch on, his own flickering flame hoping to explode into an inferno in the hands of a new soul. He had started things, rebuilt the base of the company, funded the WRO, aided Strife and Avalanche against Sephiroth. His job was done, and now it was time to step back, let the next generation take the reins, and let go. But would his Turks? Would they accept his decision? They would have to. He would miss them, as they would him, but it was time.

It was time he let go.

Death was looming over him, calling his soul from the shadows. He had come to terms with his fate a long, long time ago. He was dying, slipping away, and he was okay with that.

Rufus ShinRa accepted the warm, dark comfort of sleep as he fell gracefully into Fate's arms and Death's care.

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The door opened, and Tseng shot the figure a glance. His heart sank. Elena looked pale and heartbroken, and Reno placed a hand on her shoulder. Rude merely watched tiredly as the woman in the white lab coat glanced over the occupants of the waiting room. They all exchanged glances, and the other visitor's relaxed slightly, realizing it wasn't their doctor.

He stood up, and she limped slightly to meet him half way.

Kutika Senze was an acquaintance, a loyal follower of ShinRa till the very end, and Rufus' doctor. Her short brown hair was pulled back in a black clip, with her bangs brushed to the side. Her brown eyes were calm; an odd mix of warm compassion casual regret and sadness, all swirled in with a detached professionalism.

She looked down for a moment, avoiding his eyes. She only stared at him. Finally, she looked up and her piercing brown eyes met his own.

'I'm sorry.'

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_And it came to me then that every plan  
Is a tiny prayer to father time  
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU  
That reeked of piss and 409  
And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself  
That I've already taken too much today  
As each descending peak on the LCD  
Took you a little farther away from me  
Away from me_

_Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines  
In a place where we only say goodbye  
It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend  
On a faulty camera in our minds  
And I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose  
Than to have never lain beside at all  
And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground  
As the TV entertained itself_

_'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room  
Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news  
And then the nurse comes 'round and everyone lift their heads  
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said  
That love is watching someone die_

_So who's gonna watch you die? So who's gonna watch you die?_

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_**A/n;;** There really is no excuse for my absence. Like. Seriously. How long has it been? A month? Like, I had half of this chapter done...but then I though it was missing something, and I couldn't figure out what is was. So it sat on my desktop forever until I realized "Holy crap! Today's Christmas Eve!!" So, feeing terrible about abandoning you people, I scrambled to finish, and I think I turned out nicely. -pokes my cameo- _

_But, it's over. Finally. Finally, it can be put to rest. Who knows? I might write a followup oneshot..._

_Haha, under 500 words my ass. I guess my excuse is a combination of school, and Darkwing Duck. I became re-obsessed, and sorta lost my 'in-character' abilities for the FFVII world. I couldn't get the feel of it...which is the main reasons why many of my fics are often put on hold. _

_Thanks for the reviews and the support! Really, it means a lot to me. _

_So, have a Happy Chrisrmas and a Super-Special-Aweseome New Year, my darlinks!_


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